Gents/Ladies etc

[GreenSteve]

Something that puzzles me is the fact that archery is split into men and women with women having shorter distances and lower scores to achieve,
Is it me or is this just a bit outdated and its not about sexual equality and all that, it`s just bizzare to me surely it would make more sense to have draw weight bandings
ie 20-24lb, 25-28lb, 29-32lb, 33-36lb, 37-40lb, 41-44lb and so on
with archers competeing in their "weight" catagory
or am i barking up the wrong tree

[Thunk]

I think it's largely historical - it's also because a lot of men couldn't face being beaten by a woman.

[PaulT]

OOOH can of worms opened here.
You will find that most, if not all, sports are split between the sexes. Purely in terms of archery I am sure there is no skill difference but the draw weight capabilities make a difference. For example I know of at least one British International compound archer who could not make 90m/100y without djusting her setup. Certainly the majority of club level female archers couldn't make the long distances.
In terms of classifications - they are worked out on a percentage basis (UK).

Just don't start Angry Gaz on this subject.

[Witchie Poo Cat]

Originally Posted by Thunk

I think it's largely historical - it's also because a lot of men couldn't face being beaten by a woman.

Thunk - I like your thinking there

I imagine its an administrative nightmare to implement any changes in the archery federations, which is probably why, based on the little I have read so far, nothing EVER seems to change!

[Random_guy]

Hmmm, it's a good question, and one i've been wondering about since i started outdoors. Having a fairly low poundage on my fingers (around 36-37 depending on whose bow scales you use!) I do struggle a bit with 90m (previously had 35lbs on fingers but wound poundage up, so i now don't have to invert my sight to get a 90m sight mark, i just have to aim at the top of the boss instead!). Compared to this my 70m is much better.

Equally there is a lady at my club drawing 41lbs on her fingers and could quite happily shoot 90m with no sight issues. So my questions are these;

Could men and women ever compete directly with one-another? And if so how would you do it? There are always Gent/ lady categories, even indoors where poundage isn't as much of an advantage as outdoors. is this just tradition? Or is the implication that gents (statistically) are stronger and that is an advantage?

I apologise if there's already a thread on here about this that i have yet to find! I'm just curious about it, (although i am a little bitter that i HAVE to shoot 90m to get anything above 1st class.) Ah well, i guess if it wasn't a challenge it'd be boring....

[raktor]

Originally Posted by PaulT

Purely in terms of archery I am sure there is no skill difference but the draw weight capabilities make a difference.

how do you explain the fact that all the female indoor records are lower, recurve and compound? maybe it's a psychological / competitive difference.

[tel]

I don't have a problem with the requirement being lower for either classification or awards - what I would prefer though is that if they represent different levels of achievement they should be named differently.

[Sponge]

If only it is that simple. If I shoot 41lb with 31.5" arrows, I have some very long and heavy arrows. If someone shoots 36lb with 28" arrows they may well have shorter, narrower and lighter arrows. The speed out of the bow may well be higher off the lower poundage bow. Should they be grouped differently for having quicker kit?

The average woman is smaller and weaker than the average man. This does not mean that there are not women who are larger and stronger than men at any given event/club. In a sport where size and strength play an important part, men will have a natural advantage, on average. My wife has better technique than me, but I can hit 70m without a problem because I have the strength to do so. Shooting 30yards the other day she beat me most ends but can't get past 50 yards with her current bow. Who is the better archer?

What would be more interesting is Compound, where the strength issue is reduced and therefore the physical nature should not impact the scores as much.

Sponge

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Sponge

What would be more interesting is Compound, where the strength issue is reduced and therefore the physical nature should not impact the scores as much.
Sponge

I'm sure there are exceptions, but most women compound archers are drawing 10 to 15lb less than the men, so I think the same differences apply.

Of course men and women could compete against each other in a 70M head-to-head. There was very little difference between the top three men and women recurve qualifying scores at the Montrose Celtic Challenge a few weeks ago.

[moo-mop]

Someone once took international recurve 18 arrow match scores for men and women (including lots of korean scores where the women were said to do better) and did a graph. There was significant overlap as you might expect, but you could seperate the peaks for men and women, can't quite remember how many points, not many.